Honestly I wouldn’t start to use the current transit in my area if it was free. The issue isn’t cost, it’s that the service is stretched so thin it’s only usable as a last resort and your day has to be planned around the schedule. On the rare occasion I can’t use my car I have ended up walking for an hour and a half because it’s more convenient than the bus. I’m just glad I’m not disabled or I’d have to turn some of my outings into overnighters.
It really depends on where you live and where you are headed. We have one car and if I’ve had to go to another city 45 km away and wife has to work, then I jump on the bus, it takes about 1.5 hours and a bit of walking either end (10-15min), but driving it takes at least an hour anyway during rush hour. But there are areas not served by busses and its always the chicken-egg thing: we don’t see enough ridership in that area, but if you don’t build it then people can’t use it
Yeah, I imagine if you’re in a city it’s a different story. TransLink has been great every time I’ve used it in Vancouver. Greater Victoria seems to be pretty decent if you’re in the core or you’re near one of the commuter corridors, Nanaimo seems ok but I haven’t used it myself.
I’m in the Cowichan Valley, and like I said all our routes seem to be big loops that go out to all the smaller communities and back to Duncan. The only way I see it being more effective with a similar amount of buses is if there was more of a direct highway route and/or a hub and spoke model. You could then put a local route in each community/ group of communities or even an on demand system if it’s more rural. Obviously that’s based on my area, but I can’t imagine it’s much different in many other small towns and spread out communities.
